Well, given the more than 240million calls received by 9-1-1 operators each year, in the U.S. alone, there’s a good chance you may be making one of those calls or be the subject of one of those calls in the near future.

So?

So, wouldn’t it be good to know when you call there will be a trained professional always available to answer your call, or the call about your injury or health challenge? And wouldn’t it be reassuring to know highly trained Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are being directed to your location as quickly as possible with the most current equipment, medications, training and communications to provide you the best medical care possible and transport you to an appropriate health care facility quickly and safely?

“Yes,” you said?

Excellent. This week-long recognition event is a reminder, to all of us, of the importance of this vital service we routinely take for granted. Like water and power, we don’t give much thought to them until we turn a faucet or flip a switch and nothing happens! Then we want answers and we want them now.

This reminder is also an invitation – an invitation to attend an “open house;” to learn more how the emergency response system in your community works; contribute to fund-raising activities; participate in public discussions about policies, requirements, staffing, equipping and funding.

Perhaps most importantly, it is a reminder to say “Thank you,” to the thousands of professionals who give of their time and expertise to help their neighbors in need, often as volunteers.

We, at ReaLifeSim, are proud to partner with the EMS community by providing tools to help deliver the most realistic clinical training experiences possible, so they in turn can deliver the best care with competence and confidence.

ReaLifeSim’s innovative hybrid IV/blood draw trainer was used recently by Disaster Medical Solutions, LLC, (DMS) who presented a course to firefighters, paramedics and other clinical personnel from around Florida, nine other states, as well as Japan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

The Medical Team Specialist course, certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is part of a series of training opportunities offered in support of the National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response System under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. The course was conducted on the campus of the Florida State Fire College (FSFC) in Ocala.

A variety of buildings, collapsed structures, vehicles and assorted rubble occupy a good portion of the Florida State Fire College’s 37-acre fire-rescue-technical training facility in Ocala, FL.

The four-day course focuses on the challenges of delivering immediate medical care in an urban search and rescue environment. Whether caused by natural events such as fires, floods and hurricanes or man-made disasters such as explosions, vehicle crashes or terrorist incidents, these sites often remain unstable and dangerous, for victims and first responders alike, for some time after the causative event.

We, at ReaLifeSim, are excited to have our IV trainers used to help create the most realistic training environment possible for such an important function.

The wearable simulation device, designed to enhance the training of nurses and other clinical specialists, was used to add another level of realism to the scenarios by requiring students to successfully start an IV on a live person often in dark and confined spaces.

Reaching, assessing and treating injured victims in confined spaces adds significantly to the realism and effectiveness of the training.

Tyler Steele, 32, a veteran paramedic from the Rogers, Arkansas Fire Department, confirmed the challenges of working in uncomfortable situations and confined spaces. To cope requires you to “focus on your breathing and fall back on your training and teachings,” Steele said.

Rescue workers assess a “victim’s” condition and extraction options from a simulated building collapse.

Instructor Matt Haywood, a 50-year old paramedic from Palm Beach County, FL, who served as a simulated patient, complimented the ReaLifeSim IV trainer, citing its flexibility and function, as adding significant realism when compared with manikins.

The ReaLifeSim wearable IV trainers were used to add another level of realism to the scenarios by requiring students to successfully start an IV on a live person often in dark and confined spaces.

DMS lead instructor, Vincent Johnson, 48, a rescue paramedic from the New York City Fire Department, confirmed the importance of the multi-sensory overload within the various scenarios to create the very real distractions students will find in real-life rescue situations.

The presence of loud noises, heat, wind, rain, tight spaces and the absence of light all contribute to the difficulty of maintaining focus on the critical tasks at hand. The key to success, according to Johnson, is to “work slowly and methodically,” through each task.

When evaluating a team’s performance, Johnson looks for “clear communications and demonstrating respect for other members of the team.”

It is gratifying to be providing an affordable product that improves clinical training creating competent, confident paramedics and leading to better patient outcomes.

Clear communication between rescue workers, who are often members of different organizations or even from different countries, is critical to delivering safe and effective care, treatment and evacuation.

Realistic. Interactive. Immersive. Augmented Reality. Mixed Reality.

AR-RLS provides a realistic platform to work under the pressure of practicing while experiencing the influence human factors on hands-on and interaction communication skills.

AR-RLS software runs as an app for easy updates. The AR component helps students to better comprehend spatial relationships, deepen knowledge, and strengthen patient care in a highly interactive virtual and physical environment.

AR and safe hands-on skills practice on a SP (or manikin) with authentic haptic, visual, and interactive feedback are combined in this mixed reality learning environment.

How does this benefit learners and enhance the quality of care?

Augmented reality (AR) is no longer a tool used only in the gaming world or entertainment sector. It’s an innovative tool with the capacity to mitigate safety risks and help save lives in the healthcare industry. Numerous studies indicate AR is useful because it helps the healthcare learner to understand spatial relationships and concepts, to acquire skills and knowledge, to strengthen cognitive-psychomotor abilities, and to shorten their learning curve and prolong learning retention.

This mixed reality experience, integrating and overlays virtual elements over the real world. On our new IV Trainer, AR takes the form of 3D images visible to the user on the tablet or smartphone. The wearable AR-RLS helps educators effectively provide multi-modal strategies in clinical simulation skills training and “real life” scenario-based, inter-professional education during which learners safely experience the influence of human factors. It increases subjective attractiveness by providing students with authentic simulated experiences.

We’re pleased and proud to share ReaLifeSim was one of 33 companies nominated worldwide as a Patient Safety Advocate and acknowledged by the staff at Medical Training Magazine in their Patient Safety Advocacy issue. The issue was released today and will be distributed during the International Meeting on Healthcare Simulation 2019 conference in San Antonio, TX. Click HERE to link directly to the feature.

In the world of healthcare, more emphasis is being placed on training in human factors routinely provided to staff, similar to other safety-critical industries. Case studies, role plays and realistic simulated practice, for example, are used to improve emotion regulation, reflective ability, emotional intelligence and empathy.

With ReaLifeSim and VetReaLifeSim, learners safely practice hands-on clinical skills working with a live person or a live animal (veterinary care), relating to them as they would in a real-life situation, promoting a heightened sense of “presence” and emotional connection. Clinical students safely practice their hands-on skills to a level of competence, while simultaneously relating to the “patient” as a real person in a way that communicates confidence and inspires trust from the patient. The improved communication skills benefit and improve clinical team communication.

We designed ReaLifeSim because it was needed in our clinical education environments. We needed a better way to "train the way you treat". ReaLifeSim is continuously redefining clinical simulation training using state of the art IoT and cloud technology to provide the opportunity for learners to safely experience the influence of human factors. After working with ReaLifeSim or VetReaLifeSim, learners and providers report they are more competent and confident, helping them to feel more comfortable communicating with their patients - which can contribute to reduced preventable medical errors, reduced time to treatment, and increased patient satisfaction.

Giving isn’t just about a donation - it’s about making a difference.

Helping others and making a difference in the world is what makes the world a better place.

In healthcare, ordinary people are called to do extraordinary things every day - first responders, EMS, US&R, nurses, doctors, corpsmen, medics….helping others.

Books, instruction in classrooms, and activities during lab time provide essential knowledge and good practice. But, practicing in a realistic environment is different. That’s why we created the human-centered wearable design of ReaLifeSim product lines - to help emphasize the influence human factors have on people performing skills under pressure, by replicating real-life.

During the “season of giving”, we decided the best way to help those that are always helping others was by giving away ReaLifeSim “Starter Sets”.

Winners of the ReaLifeSim December 2018 Giveaway Promotion

We’re happy to share these stories of the winners! Individual responses were edited for space.

WEEK 1

Congratulations went to Kristi Cox Burns, MEd, BSN, an alumnus of the East Texas Baptist University School of Nursing, and Assistant Professor and Simulation Coordinator at her alma mater. Located in Marshall, TX, #ETBU offers a pre-licensure BSN degree, as well as an RN-BSN degree.

“This would be great for our students to get to see what it’s really like to start an IV on a patient.”

Given her current doctoral research interests in interprofessional collaboration in healthcare and nursing and the use of simulation in nursing education, it’s no surprise why Professor Burns is enthusiastic about using the wearable ReaLifeSim hybrid simulation IV trainer with her students.

WEEK 2

Congratulations went to Thomas Fitts, AAS, BSN,Associate Professor, Emergency Medical Services and EMS Program Coordinator, at East Central College in Union, Missouri. East Central College, a three-campus institution, offers a program of study leading to an Associate of Applied Science degree and Certificate of Achievement in Paramedic Technology.

“This would be a great opportunity for our Paramedic students! Being able to start IV's in "real life" situations such as in a car or with a moving patient, will be a huge advantage.”

At #eastcentralcollege, Paramedic students complete classroom and laboratory activities with clinical experiences in an acute care setting. The portability and adaptability and versatility of the wearable ReaLifeSim hybrid simulation IV trainer are features and benefits of value to Professor Fitts.

“Our Sim Lab will be so much more "real" with ReaLifeSim. I had been emailing with a representative of ReaLifeSim for a few months and our resources committee wanted to see a demo, before we asked for the money. So now, I have a set!”

#Harding students pursue various programs of study at one of five in-state and seven international campuses and are well prepared to enter the work world when they graduate. Prof. Cooper is eager to use the ReaLifeSim IV trainer in their skills/sim lab.

WEEK 4

Congratulations went to Ed Rovera, MSEd, CHSE, CHSOS, Dir. Operations for the Nursing Simulation Complex and Simulation Educator at San Francisco State University School of Nursing. #SFSU has a well-defined, stepped skills training program with basic skills taught the first semester, followed by mental and reproductive health the second and adult medical and pediatrics in the third.

“With this starter set, I will be able to demonstrate how students benefit from more practice to then be competent when they are doing the skills in a clinical setting. The ReaLifeSim Starter Set will get used, I assure you!”

Rovera plans to set up “Refresher Stations” in the Experiential Learning Suite (ELS) and Standardized Patient Area (SPA) prior to scheduled simulation sessions to allow students to come in early and practice with the wearable ReaLifeSim hybrid IV simulation IV trainer for 10 to 15 minutes before their simulation session begins.

Special Mention

Congratulations also went to Kim Richlak Kelly-Maden, RN, BSN, MSN, Director of The Vocational Nursing Institute, Inc. in Houston, TX. Kim Kelly-Maden is a current ReaLifeSim customer and enthusiastic advocate for our “train the way you treat” approach to healthcare simulation education – also winning a Starter Set.

“This is such a great way to learn compared to when I went to school 32 years ago. Adding this realistic venipuncture practice is a great benefit for my students.”

As clinicians, we’re committed to promote a revitalized focus on the human element of patient-centric care and clinical training, including the influence of human factors. As educators, we’re committed to provide competency based training & competency based assessment.

Plus, there’s an option to work with expert guidance from a professional that may be in a different physical/geographic location, similar to telemedicine, with four language localisations (English, French, German, Spanish). RLSimApp software runs on mobile devices as an app for easy updates. Our patented embedded sensors track skill performance over time with BLE technology and provide multiple sources of objective data. Working with RLSimApp, skills and communication performance are recorded, saved, and stored with remote access for review and feedback.

Commercially available around the globe, our products are enhancing training capabilities at minimal cost.

Let us help you train ordinary people called to do extraordinary things.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provide our communities with incredible life-saving medical care any time of day, every day and in every possible environment and circumstance you can imagine. Whether it’s illness, injury, accident, natural or man-made disaster, these men and women, many of them serving in volunteer positions, make our health, safety and well-being their #1 priority. And, they may perform their, often heroic, efforts in the light of day or dark of night, blistering heat or bone-chilling cold, desert dry or torrential rain, in a quiet room or a noisy intersection.

We, at ReaLifeSim, salute these “angels among us” for their commitment and dedication to helping their neighbors, near or far, when they need help most. Just like the EMS teams they serve, ReaLifeSim IV trainers work in any environment. We are proud to provide wearable, durable IV trainers that go everywhere they go to practice their skills.

Like you, we're thankful for the development and reach of Telemedicine - assistance from a distance is a great option to have. Fewer high acuity patients are being transferred to the emergency room and local healthcare professionals are expected to provide care under the guidance of the telemedicine team.

We help nurses develop and maintain competence and confidence in essential IV skills with wearable ReaLifeSim IV trainers. ReaLifeSim IV trainers were created by nurses - for nurses, to develop and maintain IV skills competency. They provide safe IV insertion skills practice on a live person while interacting with them as they would in a real-life situation.

Practicing with ReaLifeSim (for even just a few sticks) can help polish those skills and regain the confidence needed before going into the room with a client. ReaLifeSim trainers are durable, portable, and have an easy 5 minute setup, so they are being used on all shifts, any day, any time.

Members of EMS teams, whether EMTs at the basic, intermediate or advanced level and paramedics - all learn, enhance and maintain their skills and confidence through training and repeated practice. The more realistic the training, whether in terms of equipment, process, roles, team communication, scenario or environment, the better the experience and the more engrained the lessons learned.

ReaLifeSim wearable, hybrid IV Trainer is designed to be worn by a live person, whether a fellow learner or standardized patient, to enhance the realism of this essential clinical intervention skill. It can also be used with a manikin.

The protective layer under the simulated skin ensures the "patients's" safety, while successful IV catheter insertions permit the learner to experience the "pop" of the catheter penetrating the skin and entering the vessel producing a blood flashback. This is done working on a live person, as it would be in real live, providing opportunities to interact with the patient and team. The added realism of ReaLifeSim trainers helps ensure skills and confidence are at the highest level when they are needed.